Near Hits and Misses
by HarvestedHeart
Summary: AU. Ino, Hinata and Sakura run a lingerie store. Tenten works in a convenience store after getting out of the foster system and gets into a spat of legal trouble. Naruto and Rock Lee chase Sakura, who is still getting over a certain wangsty emo. Ino feels unfulfilled by her relationship with Shikamaru, and Hinata develops feelings for Uzumaki-san.
1. Chapter 1: First Day of Work

"Okay Hinata-chan, the first thing you haveta know is how to sell the merchandise."

The shy girl bits her lip, blood slowly trickling out onto her pale face, her lilac eyes puzzled.

"But I'm the cashier, Boss-sama…"

"Just call me Ino-chan, dahhling. And cashiers here do their fair share of the sale as well. After all, Forehead was a cashier in her first days here…. Now, let's see…."The blonde, her hair up in a loose ponytail, blue eyes shining, twists her body this way and that to take in the shy brunette, measuring tape caressing her bare arms.

Hinata doesn't really know why she's here, exactly. It wasn't her first choice for a job, in fact, she tried several applications, each less favorable than the next, until she saw the help wanted sign.

Of course, she'd been too hungry and desperate at that point to realize that the help was needed by "Kawaii-Desu Special Occasion Theme Lingerie Garden", run by Miss Yamanaka Ino, a high-school graduate of two years with….slightly unrealistic work-dress, largely consisting of rose-pink bandage lingerie and sparkling hair ornaments.

"OOooooh! Forehead, come over here! I think we found Mount Fuji, and it has a twin!"

The surly-looking pinkette strides over from the counter, dressed in a simple red tank top and jeans, looking out of place, ordinary in the glittering fantasy of the store.

The shop itself is a pervert's fantasy. Every maid-uniform style known to man, in varying shades, is housed in one section, and in another, faux mermaid scales and feathers weigh down loose pieces of silk. The walls, pink and purple, sting the eyes, and dressing-room mirrors light up in every corner.

Hinata never saw herself in a place like this.

Even as a customer (well, unless her future husband had some kind of fetish).

She had expected to finish college, what she wanted she hadn't been sure of at the time, but she would have found out, sooner or later.

She would have graduated.

She would have been….something.

"Awww, don't cry." The nearly-naked blonde swings her arms around her. "If you're shy about the twins' size, you don't haveta be. These babies are what hold up our industry, after all!"

"Pig, she's not crying about her breast size." A comforting hand on Hinata's shoulder, proving to her that maybe the pinkette was just in a perpetually bad mood, instead of being a grown high-school mean-girl as her surly expression had led Hinata to believe.

"Well, you should be, Forehead! Your A-cups are barely even noticeable!" The blonde blows her side-bangs into the air with a simple huff. "It's a wonder all the boys chase you, when they could have something more substantial. Speaking of which, when are you gonna get hitched to Naruto? I got a wedding gift I was saving for ya…"

"I have no desire to marry Naruto, now or ever." Sakura turned to the shelves of lacy undergarments, suddenly absorbed in their delicacy, fiddling with them. "He's just a friend."

"And all our male friends send us flowers on a weekly basis ? Sakura, you gotta stop toying around. This is the real deal!"

The pinkette turned, her emerald eyes feverishly bright, staring daggers into Ino, who gulped and stepped back.

"Toying around?" Sakura stepped forward. "Just how the hell was I ever toying around…" Her voice is the cold anticipation of a spark about to burst into flame, and Hinata shivers, feeling tears of misplaced self-guilt begin to form.

Whenever people are angry, I cry.

It's funny.

I always manage to think it's my fault.

In the space of an instant, the whole scene changes.

The pinkette has her head in her hands, weeping openly, silently as if afraid to showcase her tattered self-control. Ino holds her in her barely-clothed arms, comforting her with soft words:

"Sakura…it's alright. Sasuke doesn't know what he threw away. You're doing great, babe, going to medical school, top of the class….Sasuke won't be so lucky, now, will he?"

Hinata steps forward uneasily, her own conflicted eyes darting back and forth.

"Should I leave you two?"

As if someone paused the scene on a DVD, they stop. Ino lets go of Sakura, who, rubbing plaintively at red eyes, smiles a patent bright smile, the epitome of fake.

"It's okay, Hinata." She sniffs, rubbing now at her nose. "I just got out of a bad relationship and need some time, you know?"

"Yeah."

She lies.

She never had a boyfriend, and she's never been kissed.

She's so inexperienced and shy it angers her, somewhere deep in the core of her soul.

"So….." she breaks the awkward tension of a few seconds with her own voice. "When do I start?"

The bubbliness comes back into Ino's face, blue eyes lighting up with some strange happiness as she races over and glomps Hinata to herself.

"TODAY!"


	2. Chapter 2: I'm Fine

"BUG OFF YOU PERVERT!" Ino swat at the offending gray-haired old man viciously with the pink broomstick. How many lives could you ban someone from a store? Because Jiraiya was borderline 50 lives banned. Which would be a good band name, now that she thought of it…

"But my research!" The gray-haired novelist wailed. "Without nubile young women, my books don't sell!"

Ino sighed. Jiraiya did bring in publicity for the store, through various dedications in various smut publications. Of course, that also meant more than half of Konoha City's pervy population resided around her store.

She had wanted to be a pop singer, or a model, two years ago. Eventually, after failing every audition (something about being "difficult to work with" or "an incurable diva"), she'd come back to Konoha, dejected and cranky. She'd opened this place up to deal with her own disappointment.

It was fun, especially when Forehead had to work for her to pay for some college stuff and had to call her Boss-sama. Fun teasing the newbie, Hinata-chan, about her Mount Fuji twins. But sometimes, Ino was just depressed when she remembered exactly what her life was now.

"Sir….um…."

"What?" The greasy-looking man with the dark ponytail spat, cigarette in one edge of his mouth, moving just a little.

"You can't …smoke..in here." Hinata stammered. He looks like a gang member, she thought, staring at his devil-may-care expression, cancer stick and combat boots.

"Oh?" His eyes lifted up quizzically.

"Yes…."Hinata squeaked, hugging her arms together to ward off her own inner fear.

The doorbell chimed a merry little jingle and Ino, resplendent in a blue Tinkerbell-style winged lingerie piece, danced in, grinning wildly. At the sight of the gang member, she squealed and rushed forward, glomping the expressionless man with great force.

"Shika-kun!"

"Ino."

"You…know..each other?" Hinata looked at the greasy smoker and the fairy-like, petite little blonde with some confusion.

"He's my boyfriend, you silly girl!" Ino smiled cheerily, pulling a childish pair of rabbit ears behind the smoker's tight ponytail. "And he's just such a great guy!" She gushed.

"Thank you." It sounded more weary than happy, Hinata thought, and as she thought it, "Shika-kun"slowly disengaged from the grasp of Ino, placing in her hands a take-out box from Ichiriki Ramen.

"Got you dinner."

The blonde's eyes stayed smiling, but the atmosphere had changed and Hinata felt some new tension creeping into the blonde.

"Staying out late again?"

"Yes."

Without even a goodbye, he strides to the door, closing it with the same merry jingle, walking down the street with his cigarette in his mouth, still nonchalant. Still nothing.

"Are you alright, Ino-chan?" Hinata asks. The blonde's mouth is slightly open as she stares after her boyfriend, her eyes twitching unnaturally, her hands on the take-out a little too steady, crumpling some of the paper box itself.

With a Stepford smile, Ino turns back to Hinata.

"I'm fine, Hinata-chan."

What a lie.

What a hopeless, idiotic lie.

She wanders, in her street clothes, into Ichiriki Ramen.

The man behind the counter greets her warmly, of course.

She's the only one willing to pay rent for the bare little apartment upstairs, the one that used to crawl with cockroaches and smell of detergent and stale liquor.

Climbing the stairs to get home, she remembers the first day of moving in.

How he carried all the boxes upstairs, even her own, and refused to let her deal with them.

Aren't I your boyfriend?

She'd nodded.

This is what boyfriends do, so I'm doing it.

She remembered the first day he lost his job.

Her incessant comforting, his own tired acceptance turning to annoyance after she carried on.

Did I try too hard to show you I loved you, Shikamaru?

Is that why you turned away, became distant?

Why you started going to see Temari again?

I thought you said you were over her, that she hurt you.

Never again.

She climbs onto the grey duvet of their bed and grabs her pillow, dank, smelling of the tears she's cried for days into it, secretly.

What's another day anyway?

I wanted a ring.

I wanted a family.

I wanted all those with you, Shika.

But now….

I don't think you want me anymore.

More tears to add to her pillow are all she gets now.

AN: Just about killed me to write that. ShikaIno is my OTP and I have no intention of severing them, for other rabid fangirls and boys out there. But this will make it a little harder for them to work it out, obviously. And since I'm writing this:

**IN CASE YOU THOUGHT I DID, I DON'T OWN NARUTO. KISHIMOTO-SAMA DOES. I WISH I DID, BUT I DON'T. END. **


	3. Chapter 3:Tangled Heartstrings

The air in the store could have frozen over. Of course, that had everything to do with the broken air conditioner, as per usual.

Lips chattering, Tenten stood behind the counter of the convenience store, her hands bundled in layers of striped yarn. When was the repair-guy ever going to get over here? She wondered for the umpteenth time, taking out her hands to blow on.

Outside, Konoha was entering late fall, the dying, brightly colored leaves spinning to their ground-bound doom.

How sad, Tenten thought for a moment before reality caught up with her. Shaking her head, she repeated inwardly:

They're just falling leaves and they'll be a nuisance to clear up tomorrow.

Grumbling, she moved around behind the counter, eventually slapping her own meager allowance into the cash register and swiping the nearest pack of gum she could lay her hands on. Boss wouldn't care as long as the numbers matched up, and anyway, she needed her small pleasures. She worked in a freaking convenience store, for crying out loud.

She had never known her mother, who was most likely some teenager who had callously thrown her newborn baby girl into a dumpster on the night of Konoha High's Prom twenty years ago(probably without ever determining the gender of the infant). At least, that's what the newspaper clipping speculated that day, the day Tenten was found by the school custodian and shipped off into the foster system with her placeholder name.

Tenten. What moron thought up that one?

An overly cheerful ding resounded as the door opened to reveal a young kid.

Tenten, grateful her job didn't involve saying hello to people, grunted at him and focused on chewing out the tangy melon of the gum. Chew. Repeat. Repeat. Go on doing the same thing until you can't stand the flavor of it.

In her daze, her eyes focused on the boy again.

She saw him reach his grubby paw out towards the candy, grab one, and swiftly shove it under his jacket.

Immediately, Tenten sprang into action, standing up and slowly making her way towards the kid in the aisle, fury burning in her veins.

She thrust her hand onto his shoulder and jerked him to face her.

"Give back the damn candy, you little brat." She growled.

The little ghoul squirmed underneath her and raced towards the entrance, panting breaths resounding from the chubby little frame.

It was all just a bit too easy.

Tenten's legs, well-trained for the moment, whipped up a frenzy as she dashed for him, her left leg suddenly connecting at the crucial moment, hard and fiery, with his upper chest.

As her balance gave out and she tottered, she saw the boy lying face down on the floor.

Serves him right, was her first thought, though it was quickly followed by a second:

I don't think he's moving…

Oh no. Oh no. Don't check Tenten.

You better not dial those three digits Tenten.

This can't go well…

Screw you, inner truth, Tenten mentally raged. I'm not completely heartless just yet.

I don't discard people the way life discarded me.

…

"Autumn's so pretty…"Hinata stared out the window dreamily, lilac and grey eyes complimenting her tender smile as she tapped away at the cash register in preparation for the day.

It was, she thought with some small amount of glee, the first day she had the store to herself! Ino had a bad cough, and Sakura apparently was beginning her pre-med examinations for the year. Too bad for them, but Hinata couldn't help the smile that rose to her face at the sight of the darkened storeroom, only lit by glittering sequins, as she had turned the key in the door this morning.

So far it had been a slow day, with only one customer, a tall raven-haired woman who walked away with "classic" white bandage lingerie. While she'd given a little too much information about what her lover liked beforehand, she had been otherwise friendly and at the same time patient with Hinata, putting up with her mix-ups and even remarking that she'd come back someday. All in all, a success.

Who's a failure now, Daddy! Hinata wanted to scream in her exhilaration. Muffling a giggle, she turned her mind to other things before she could remember the pain behind the thought.

Just as well, the doorbell sounded, and in walked a striking blond man.

He was dressed simply, in a white t-shirt and blue jeans, his blue eyes shining in the filmy, overdone lights that Ino had installed years before, making him appear as if he'd walked out of some translucent dream.

"Hey." He smiled at her, unconcerned, uncaring as he turned around, eyeing the merchandise with an overly excited mixture of perverse desire and shock.

She couldn't help but stare at his uncaring posture, couldn't help hearing the natural cadence of his voice, no degree of insecurity in it. She couldn't help staring, more naturally so, at those perfect navy eyes. No trace of doubt, secret pain, or bitterness. No trace of anything but warmth.

It drew her, like a moth to a flame, drew her to him in that way that nothing else had.

Because nothing was like this boy, this perfect, confident, happy boy.

If she was right about him, she had never met anyone like him, kind and confident, simple and without sadness.

She didn't love him, no one loves at first sight…but she immediately admired him.

"Ummm…"She realized with a sudden jolt that he had been watching her watching him, and a quizzical look decorated his face. Quizzical, but not creeped out, which only further served to remind her of the ideal she'd already given him.

"Sorry!" She squeaked nervously. "First time managing the store for the day…."She trailed off, uselessly.

"No worries." His easy-going smile confronted her once more as he drew closer. "I'm Uzumaki Naruto." His hand reached out towards her own, and she found herself grasping the calloused fingers tenderly.

"Hyuga Hinata." She smiled awkwardly. "Can I help you with something."

"Nah." She felt a sudden burst of silent, silly indignation as he let go of her hand.

"I was just looking for Haruno Sakura."

She agrees to take a note to her.

And she has to remind herself how stupid it is to feel a broken heart when she never had a love to begin with.

….

Ino is not ill.

She feels better than ever, actually, sitting in this diner booth, fingers lacing into red upholstery, her glass being refilled for the ninth time.

Shikamaru's always too cheap for that, she thinks giddily, as she stares into the eyes of the large man in front of her. A pang of guilt stirs in her as she sees Chouji's eager smile. Shikamaru…

But then he'd been seeing that Temari-ho. She was sure of it.

She hadn't even met to meet up with him at all.

A chance encounter in a grocery store, nothing more, carts pushing against each other, fresh fruit dropping in chunks from her cart.

Startled and enraged, she'd lifted her face to cuss at the socially-ill freak who'd do that to her.

And found herself staring into the eyes of Shikamaru's best friend, Akimichi Chouji.

The one who left Konoha to find work so many years ago.

He'd apologized almost instantly, such a gentleman, and offered to buy her some lunch to catch up.

She'd casually asked him about his job halfway through her dish, and nearly spat out a mouthful of chewed-up food when he told her.

"Well, it sure helps pay for things like these, but money isn't everything." He smiled at her awestruck expression. "And being president of a catering company isn't the best thing."

"Come on." Ino blurted. "Your company caters for everything, even celebrities and world leaders. President of that…" She trailed off, staring at her napkin.

"What's the matter?" Chouji asked.

"I'm… just sorry. For teasing you in high school. It was such a shameful thing to do…and I don't think I ever really gave you an apology." She chokes on her own words, silently hating her past, younger self.

"It's really quite alright." He smiled. "And you were hardly the only one."

Wiping his pudgy cheeks with the diner's inelegant checkered napkin, he asks her if she would like to see his new place in Konoha sometime.

She barely has time to remember Shikamaru before the word pops out.

"Yes." And remembering Temari, her face brightens. "I'd like that very much."


	4. Chapter 4: Livesand How to Save Them

"You must do better."

Those words are ringing in her head as she walks down the road to her own apartment, sulky and already as pissed as can be. Part of the reason is that she knows that the words imprinted in her brain, written in red splotches all over her exam, souring her conscience, are true.

She'd gone to see her advisor, eyes bulging and voice spluttering as she read aloud the examiner's comment. Meanwhile, Senju Tsunade merely stared balefully as Sakura lost her sanity in the alcohol-smelling office, screaming in fury through her tears.

Tsunade calmly turned to her, manner almost condescendingly blank through the lens of her own fury.

"Well…."

"You think it's true?!" Sakura hurled several expletives after the statement to emphasize her general point at those horribly blank orbs of eyes. Dammit, why was Tsunade either drunk or obviously a lot poorer every time she came to see her? Wasn't the whole point of an advisor to "advise" ?

Childishly, Sakura began to wonder if Tsunade had ever really grown up. Of course she had, she reminded herself, this is the medical legend of Konoha City…. Who, by the by, is an honored visitor and veteran of Leaf Casino, as well as a consumer of just about every semi-alcoholic material available in this universe.

She's really in no position to lecture (God knows, like most college students, she's woken up twenty dollars poorer and heaving up greasy bar cuisine at least once), but she at least assumed that Tsunade could help her more than she had, being her advisor. It just went to show that adulthood, unlike what she'd thought as a teenager, had never been correlated with wisdom in all parts of life. Cripes, if Tsunade hadn't abandoned her demons, when could Sakura leave hers?

"Frankly, kid, I believe it." Tsunade's gravelly voice, suddenly loud and was surprising all of a sudden.

"Your mind is constantly on your own issues, and you make excuses constantly."

"I never!"

"But you do." The hungover tone of Tsunade's voice gives way to tired annoyance. "Always saying that you will change, and yet you never do. You put your personal crap before your medical courses, every single time. "

Tsunade sighed, abruptly grabbing a thermos from a drawer in her desk, opening it and swigging it with undisguised relish. Wiping it off her lips with the back of a hand, she coughed before continuing.

"To be a medic is to learn to place all human life above your own petty squabbles and problems. Miss Haruno, the only way you can ever really say that you've graduated from my course is not when you leave this university, but when you save your first life against all odds, doing whatever, and I mean whatever it takes to save that life. Only then can you ever say that you were my student." Another swig from the thermos, another wiping of the face as Sakura stands there in silence, quasi-stunned by the philosophical tone and unable to come up with a retort.

"What are you still standing there for? Do ya think I don't have work to do?" Tsunade slurs as Sakura makes an exit, stage left through the office door.

* * *

She can't stop thinking about that boy, she finds, even while the shop is closed and she cannot see him. It's stupid, she thinks, utterly, ridiculously stupid to even think about someone you've only just met, someone who you know is already in love with someone else…She strives to forget about him, or at least to get over him, if possible, despite the sinking feeling that this is doomed to failure.

Suddenly, she hears her long-forgotten, eternally charging cell phone chime out. Racing out of the bathroom, teeth still unbrushed, eyes still not fully unfogged in preparation for the day, she jams a finger down on the voicemail button.

Pressing the cool metal to her ear, she hears the familiar sound of her sister, still in high school, still the favored one….and she knows why.

"Hey sis!" The cheeriness, not too bright and yet not too dulled down, reserved enthusiasm. She is the perfect moderate, and that's why… why she is chosen, over and over again. And yet it is that same personality, coupled with past experiences and her own shy, nonconfrontational personality that make it just too hard to hate Hanabi the way she probably should.

"Just got back from another lecture at Dad's company. They're really working me hard, grilling me on Economics and everything. Oh well, at least this way I'll pass Econ no problem." A brief bark of a laugh. "So…..I still miss you, Hina-chan. Could you just text me soon? If you don't want to talk, I understand….but could you at least prove to me you're still alive? Please. Please. You have no idea what's it's like not knowing where you are, if you got trafficked to Suna or Kumo by the gangs, or if you'll ever talk to the family again…." A hesitant pause before the suddenly world-weary voice carries on. "Just… text me, Hinata. I'm begging you."

As the white noise after the voicemail resounds around her sleep-fogged world, Hinata thumbs her way through a text, at first a brief message, until it becomes larger and more articulate:

**Hanabi, I'm alive. Dad gave me enough money for a week's stay at this hotel, and I have a job that pays enough for it. **

**I don't resent you for Dad cutting me out of the company and telling me to get out of the family. It was the only way for traditional Dad to pass the company on to you, and you were always more capable than me. Less likely to get hurt and stay hurt, an amicable but quiet person…the sort who should really be in business. I was only in the way, and Dad thought I should become a self-made person, I suppose.**

She suddenly ceases the typing, and, with a sigh of annoyance, deletes the message.

I'm still not over that hurdle, I guess.

And she slowly feels a tear fall over her nose, finger rubbing against it absentmindedly as it makes its downward descent.

* * *

Like all endings, in her opinion, it's certainly not a happy or easy one. His face is drawn and tired-looking, hair barely tied back in that ponytail of his. She struggles against the urge to reach up and place those stray hairs back into it, struggles against the urge to kiss and make up again, to caress him despite his many, many imperfections, to claim him again. It's been too long, and there has been too much making up on her part. It is always her patching over wounds, and she's sick of ignoring her own needs for the sake of this bastard.

Look at him. Packing his belongings in cardboard boxes, already resigned to losing her. Some infantile part of her had wished that after the break-up fight last night, he would be more desperate, ready to crawl back to her, glorious beauty, Aphrodite incarnate that she is. But instead, he's moving out. Just like he said he would.

Flashing back to last night, she recalls the argument…

* * *

"Who the hell is he?" Furiously, not coldly so as normal, but fiery, bloodlust filled.

"That's not the point, Nara!" She screams, causing the owner of Ichiriki to once again shout something about "piping it down up there".

"He, unlike you, can actually give a damn about me and what makes me happy!"

"I care about you!" His voice cracks for a second, most likely from the inhalation of too much air. "Goddammit, Ino, I really do care about you…"

Well, she abruptly thinks, this is somewhat pleasing. He stopped declaring any love for me after the hormone-fledged years of high school.

Too little, too late.

Not to mention Temari….

"Then you should've stopped screwing that bitch Temari." The words come out smoothly and smug, syrup.

"What the hell?" His question is loud and infuriated once more. She's hit a low blow, and Kami is she proud of herself, in some perverse way. "I haven't been screwing her! We just met up a couple times…"

"And I'm sure it was completely platonic on everyone's part."

"Trying to pick a fight, Ino?"

Somehow, that comment aggravates her the most as she slams her hand, hard and unexpectedly painfully, down on the table, earning yet another yell from the owner downstairs.

"I wanted to end things peacefully, still be friends, but it looks like that isn't happening!"

As she speaks, something subtle alters in his face, hardening him as he stares daggers into her. Now she's spoken, and there is no going back.

"So this is it, then." Cold fury. At least this is what she expected. "When are you moving out?"

"You're moving out." She spits, unladylike and feral, uncaring, at him. "In case you forgot, I pay for this crappy apartment, with my JOB." She accentuates that last word in what is almost a hiss.

* * *

He leaves without a goodbye and without fanfare. Both are too proud to speak, and after the door slams behind him, a glimmer of loss springs up in her, to her disgust. She's free and she wants to be stuck with that loser again? What an idiot she is.

To cure herself of her braindead behavior, she calls Chouji and offers to meet up with him, later at night than normal, at her favorite club.

A night of pointless inebriation and cementing herself with a better man will surely be the way out of her predicament.

Hopefully, she can forget what she ever saw in Nara Shikamaru.


	5. Chapter 5: The Best Man

**Hello again. Not much to say, really, so on with this AU!**

She'd heard that all the cool kids went to jail, but somehow, Tenten thought the experience could be improved upon. All the stoners from her old school would have lost that damnable cool to frenzy had they been in here for more than three days. She was already starting to lose her own cool lying here. Her hair, which she'd wound round her fingers to keep from boredom, was already slightly moist with grease, and the adjoined toilet had not been emptied, reeking of her own urine.

She had never wanted a shower so badly.

"Damn temporary cell." She thought out loud. Why couldn't they just put her in one with a shower? Apparently, "not 'til your hearing." The Konoha Law and Justice System was full of pricks who didn't know what they were doing.

"Tenten?" A harsh voice as the warden's footsteps crack alongside strangers' footsteps. Two strangers…by the sound.

"The D.A.'s here to see you."

The D.A. is the cold-looking man who reminds her of ice, with his eyes like shards of glass. He's handsome, with long hair tied behind him, in an impeccable suit that practically gleams in this room, gleams off his corpse-white skin.

His companion is smiling a cat's grin at her. He's wearing what looks like a green jumpsuit, to which she immediately thinks "What the hell?" His eyes are stunningly big and watery, fish eyes the size of dinner plates. A dark fringe haircut, gleaming with product, hangs over those orbs.

"Hyuga Neji." The D.A. stretches out a hand towards her and she feels herself, almost as if watching actions progress in a dream, take it and shake gently. "And this is my bodyguard, Rock Lee. He tells me he's come to your store a few times…for snacks." The last few words almost sounded disparaging, disgusted.

"Hey, Tenten!" The man called Lee smiled even wider, clearly unaware of the distaste in Neji's voice. It had to be plastic surgery. No frickin way could a mouth stretch that much.

"Why do you even need a bodyguard?" She finds herself asking.

"As a D.A., I've made my share of enemies." Neji finds his way to the only wheeled chair and sits, rolling over to the bars near her face. "Now, tell me what happened exactly as you recall."

* * *

"I DON'T WANT TO BE PREGNANT!"

"Welcome to the real world darling." Sakura smiled as she rubbed the stethoscope over Ino's slightly bulging stomach. "Nobody likes it, but at least you have a boyfriend to pin the blame on. Oops, I meant fiancé. After all, wedding day's tomorrow."

"You're right…."Ino suddenly smiled and sat up in an instant, causing the stethoscope to drop onto the floor with a sudden metallic cling. "Chouji and I will have a family!" She squealed, spreading her arms and hugging Sakura violently. "You're such a great maid of honor, Sakura!"

"Damn right I am, at least until your water breaks to herald new life, in which case, you'll want to reevaluate that position."

"I can't wait!" Ino smiled as she fingered the rings covering her fingers, each one a brilliant new shade, each one screaming out its own price tag merely with appearance. Chouji was a generous soul. But of course, none compared to the garland of diamonds set in rose gold. Her engagement ring.

"I wonder who Chouji's picking for his ushers….maybe Naruto will be one of them…"

"You never!" Sakura spluttered. "I'm not interested! Would it kill someone to note that!"

"Don't deny the throbbing of your heartstrings, Sakura…"

"That doesn't even make sense!" A pause. "Also, it would hurt, because those are considered serious heart palpitations and I would be dead."

"You can't deny love, dearie!"

"I'm just going to be silent now."

* * *

**_Three months ago…_**

Nara Shikamaru was drinking in the hope of drunkenness. Like Ino, he liked intoxicating his problems away, giving into alcohol-induced madness and joy for an hour or so before reality caught up. He was a laughing drunk, he knew, always shrieking and screaming at anything anyone said in some perturbed elation. Unfortunately, it was too hard for him to drink up to that point and too easy to return to sobriety, so here he sat with beer in hand, just pretending he was interested in it. Just like he was pretending things were alright.

"Shikamaru! Hey, Shikamaru!"

He ignores it, focusing on the amber color of his beer.

"Shikamaru! Don't you remember me!"

He turns suspiciously, suddenly realizing he's heard that voice before…

"Chouji!" He stares with open-faced amazement at his best friend, suddenly here when he's at his worse. Like the universe is finally favoring him! Suddenly, he thinks he might not need the alcohol to get happy.

"You're looking….." Chouji's face took on that look of boldly attempting a great black lie. "Great!"

Shikamaru laughed. "Let's buy you a drink and maybe I can trust you to tell me the truth about where you've been and what you're up to back in Konoha."

….

After a couple beers, they were chatting away alarmingly well. Chouji's business was booming, he'd traveled, and Shikamaru was living vicariously through his tales.

"So…Shika…." Chouji smiled. "I just asked my girl to marry me." His voice was full of bedazzled amazement. "And she said yes!"

"Was it frightening?"

"Oh yeah. She just stood there for a minute…I was shaking but I hope she didn't see…It was such a relief when she just took the ring out of that box."

"Congrats, bro." Shikamaru smiled, clapping Chouji on the shoulder. "So, this girl, where's she from?"

"Konoha, you think I'd go for a foreigner?"

"They do say some of them are pretty exotic…" Suddenly Shikamaru felt himself turning backwards in time to a sandy-haired girl, his first kiss and his first girlfriend, the ambassador from Suna, Temari. It had been good, he supposed, but it was never meant to last. First relationships always failed and fizzled. She'd broken up with him via a short but surprisingly painful email message once she got back home. "But, yeah, girls from Konoha …are definitely the best." Dammit, now Ino flickered in and out of his eyes, a bright firefly… "Sorry, Chouji, I was just dumped…" He said by way of explanation.

"That's too bad." Chouji placed a hand on Shikamaru. "You want to talk about it?'

"Nah. Tell me about the girl you picked."

"Sweet, headstrong, just a little vain so she keeps up a great appearance, a bit of a fiery temper…." He whispered. "Also, great in bed."

"Dang." Shikamaru was impressed.

"You still don't recognize her?"

"No…who is she?"

"That girl we used to hang out with in High School, Yamanaka Ino."

Shikamaru's eyes begin to pop as his mind starts kicking into overdrive. No. No. They can't. She wouldn't. He's not. I…..

"That's great…."He swallows his pride and anger at once, feeling the bitter taste of it, like swallowed smoke overwhelm him as he shakes the hand of his best friend. The one who is marrying the girl he still apparently thought he had a chance with.

"Will you do us a favor and be our best man?" Chouji's rotund face, so innocent as he asks his best friend to stand and watch as he marries the girl they both love. As he asks his friend to put aside his feelings and stand as they wander off into new lives.

Shikamaru swallows the smoke and anger again and again in those few seconds until the pit in his chest nearly fades.

"Yeah, sure."

* * *

Ino sits in the apartment, humming under her breath as she brushes the cornsilk of her hair again and again. Rings, gold and silver and ruby and emerald, hang off her long fingers like chandeliers from ceilings, almost ready to fall off with mere weight as she brushes again and again, repeating the motion as if going through a religious ceremony.

The door slams open as Shikamaru strides in loudly, feet tapping against the rickety wood floor like an incoming storm.

"Why did you say yes to him?" A low growl. She can smell the liquor on his breath, harsh and heavy.

She's frightened but suddenly stands her ground, shrieking at him, brandishing that hairbrush like a mace.

"Because he cares about me and buys me nice things, something one bastard never did!"

"YOU CAN'T DO THIS! YOU'RE NOT MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND!"

"AND WHY THE HELL NOT?" She's roaring now, in his face, straight into that awful, awful face.

"BECAUSE I STILL LOVE YOU, YOU BACKSTABBING LITTLE HARLOT!"

Somehow, they crash into each other and she doesn't care, she doesn't care, not even when he carries her over to the bed they used to share and begins to rip her bathrobe off and she kisses him and they entwine and there is something strange and unfamiliar even though they've done this so many times because it's never quite been like this, no, not ever since back in the beginning when they were still kids and it releases her anger and gives her peace and oh.

* * *

She wakes up in the morning with a note on the pillow beside her, in scrawled lettering on the back of a postcard.

_I'm sorry about that. I was drunk. It will never happen again. I hope you have a nice wedding, but please tell Chouji I can't be his best man. _

_S_

**Ooohh….rate and review please! Love to know your thoughts ;). Been a while I know, but this is still going on, and I'm grateful to everyone who has reviewed already. It really makes writing this all worth it, as all you fellow fanfic writers know. **


	6. Chapter 6: Change

** Ok, I literally had to poke myself repeatedly to NOT make this about ShikaIno or focus on the Ino storyline at all. In fact, this chapter and the following ones will be centered on one character each time, with the first of these characters being Tenten, because she needs love in and out of the canon series.**

It's been three days since she left that cell, something she's thankful for, but doesn't quite know how to express. After all, Hyuga-san….Neji…had expressly told her not to thank him for her removal from the cell, probably because what had happened had been embarrassing for him as well as her. Scowling into a mirror at her wet rat-tails of hair, she remembers the day he got her out of there…along with a not-very-helpful Lee.

"Remember innocent until proven guilty? Tenten-chan is still innocent!"

"Lee…."Neji sighed, exasperated. "She's guilty, it's there on tape that she roundhouse-kicked that kid to the moon and back and then called 911. Excuse my bodyguard, Officer, he's not well-versed in the ways of law….or anything aside from his job."

"I am versed in a lot of things!"

"This is not a conversation for now, Lee. Do I really have to treat you like a child and force you to wait outside until I collect you?"

"Fine, turd, I'm gonna go say hi to Tenten." Footsteps, loud and irritable, move towards her cell, and Lee's fish-eyes hover over her filthy hair and dead skin cells. That stretchy smile never seems to ache on his face, she thinks. Even a regular one always aches on mine, itches, feels unnatural in every sense. Why? Why him and not me?

"Hey, Tenten-chan! I hope you're all packed and ready to go to Neji's high-rise!" Lee practically squealed in delight. "It's the perfect apartment! Someday I'm gonna kick that bastard out of there and live there myself, like a king!"

"You know, he does pay you."

"That doesn't mean I can't go on strike!"

"I think you would need a union for it to really make sense." Tenten was beginning to find humoring Lee slightly grating, and yet, she supposed she must be a bit of a masochist, because another part of her thought it strangely fun that someone was listening. God, I must have been a real sociopath when no one talked to me for those three weeks.

"Then you and I will form a union!"

"What?"

"A worker's union!"

"Oh, yeah. That." She scrambles on her feet and pushes herself up so that the two are staring eye to eye. "I'm technically Hyuga-san's client…..so I couldn't be a part of the worker's union anyhow." Suddenly, what had been niggling at the back of her mind for days was suddenly all too painstakingly clear. "Kami! How am I going to even pay him for being my attorney?"

In comes the devil himself, surprisingly crimson-cheeked and eyes throbbing with a sort of vengeance about them, feet so silent they sound like the whisper of a death threat.

"This is what he looks like when I use all the hot water." Lee stage-whispered to Tenten all-too-loudly, which normally would have resulted in a snide comment from Neji. However, said Hyuga was more occupied with other things at the moment, namely the conversation he'd had with the officer after Lee's exit.

"Buckle up." He grunted as they walked towards his dazzlingly bright sedan, a regular tooth from a dental commercial after the use of the new miracle toothpaste. Tenten vaguely recalled that car having been pulled into the driveway near the 7-11 she worked at a few times. She'd never looked for the driver, but had instinctively known that it was a car that screamed: "Asshole with money." Just looking at it with its fine upkeep, the regular care applied to making sure the thing light in the sun like a minor star, it seemed to snidely make a remark.

_Look at me. I'm a freakin car that will eventually break down or go out of fashion and have to be replaced. Yah, whatever, I'm still taken care of, not like you. _

Not like her. That car was better than her and it killed her.

That was why there was a smear of garish red paint decorating one of the windows. She had come to work slightly intoxicated and more than a little downtrodden. Of course, the jerkwad car had simply had to be splattered. It had seemed as though she was an instrument of fate as she swung the oversized brush. Now, she realized, she had simply made it harder for Neji and Lee (Lee, most likely) to clean up. Shame was unfamiliar, and she squirmed slightly as it coursed through her.

"Are you cold?" Lee turned to her, big aquarium eyes filled with concern. "We keep a blanket in the truck for winter…I could go get it…"

"Nah." She smiled at him, feeling the unfamiliar tugs on her face as she did. Gratitude…it didn't suit her, but she felt it was nessecary. "I'm good."

"Ok then, let's sing in the car!"

"Lee…."Neji groaned. "Don't. In fact, I will voluntarily put on your favorite radio station simply not to have you sing ever again as long as we both are alive."

"Oh what the hell." Tenten immediately burst into a scratchy soprano and joined Lee's equally horrible baritone, which had always reminded Neji of the dying sounds horses made.

Kami, was Neji ever sorry he took Tenten's case in that moment.

* * *

"These look about your size." Neji shoved the pile of silk blouses and linen pants uncaring in Tenten's general direction, nearly missing her bony arms as he walked off, most likely into his home office. Lee had pointed it out gleefully, the black and chrome spinning chair, the hardwood desk…

She noticed the clothes with a mixture of distaste and pleasure. For one, they were made well and seemed to reek of cost, which she had never had in anything she wore. But as she placed a lavender silk top over her head, she realized the outfit had been made for someone more greatly endowed in the breasts department than her who favored light pastels, something that looked too icy against her tan skin. Did Neji have a lover? She almost laughed. He was such a wet blanket and yet the most endearing kind, the sort that gave way to Lee's craziness. How did they even stand it? Life here must be like watching a sitcom or something.

"Dinnertime!" She heard Lee scream as she took off the top and substituted her pants for a fresh pair.

Takeout containers littered the elegant dining table as Tenten slowly took a bite, savoring the taste. She rarely ever treated herself to this…for her it was always microwave meals.

"So how did the officer let you bring me here?" She blurted abruptly before backtracking. "I mean, not that I'm not grateful…" She noticed the redness reappearing on Neji's face once more as he coughed into his napkin.

"The officer….needed to be convinced that I was going to return you to your hearing…but he didn't understand simple generosity and didn't believe I would let you live with me simply to not have someone live in that rathole of a cell….and I told him in the end that we were…."

"That we were what?" Tenten subconsciously can sense her anger build up slowly, anticipating the answer before it even comes.

"That we were once…sleeping together...and I felt...responsible for you..."

Tenten was silently counting the minutes, knowing it would only just contain the anger. Why? Why did she have to be another girl? Just another vessel, just another place to dump sperm into, nothing but a container, a biological container…She would never have children. Not ever. She hated the idea, hated how she would stop becoming herself, a host and then later a doll… never appreciated, simply there to have and hold as the other person pleased.

She would never have freedom unless she was alone.

"That was….really low of you, Neji."Lee seemed surprisingly serious, composed, even. "I think you'd better just get around to your work now defending Tenten's case. Tenten, you should probably get some rest…your bedroom's that way." He pointed to the left and, obediently mustering the will to simply give Neji a silent glare, Tenten walked into the spare room.

It was simply decorated, white linen blankets, white walls, an explosion of colorlessness. Still tense, she lay on the bed itself, hoping that the anger would leave, fists clenched. Murdering the D.A. was probably not the best idea, but her blood was singing, a high, heady operetta about imminent death. Even as she lay motionless, she could feel herself almost as if she was a landmass, the blood flooding rivers coursing through her at maximum speed, causing the mountains and valleys of her knuckles and fingertips to quake.

Screw lying down.

She practically catapulted herself off, landing gracefully on her feet.

She had never really learned much from high school.

She had learned things from her gang, though.

Like how to fight, how to roundhouse kick with the best of them, how to utilize the force of her own body, small and agile, to overpower other, larger opponents. She remembered back-alley brawls and the feeling of a nose crushing into marrow beneath one strongly-placed fist, exhilarating, exhausting, panting breaths issuing from her as someone charged on at her.

It hadn't been much of a life, but it had been hers. Until the day she promised she would straighten out and save lives instead of break noses, the day she realized that this wasn't what she wanted. She had wanted to be a doctor like her idol Tsunade, who had once been a member of a gang, and they'd laughed her out of high school. Tenten, who slacks off and doesn't show to class unless she's been clearly beaten to a bloody pulp and dragged through the doors by chain-smoking thugs. Tenten, who is failing biology and all her other classes spectacularly.

She'd been admired by the gang for her fighting skills, and she was the laughingstock of Konoha High School once she promised to go straight that time. She wasn't feared any longer, wasn't greeted with staring eyes but instead laughter, high-pitched hyena shrieks.

_Look at her. She's so freakin' stupid, did you hear what she asked in English? She asked how to spell…_

"Shut. The. Fuck. Up." She had barreled down on the smaller girl when her clenched words had produced more hyena calls instead of the fear and impending agony it should, beating her, pulling those insipid tufts of brown hair, how dare it be so long and shiny, how dare she have a perfect complexion, how dare she exist? Her fist plunged down near the other girl's and twisted, hard enough for a purpling bruise, hard enough for it to almost break the skin. But that was too good for them. That was always too good for them. They had to suffer with the impression underneath their skin, to know always what a sort of constant, continual pain felt like. The feeling that something inside would eat you away, leaving nothing but a husk.

* * *

_"I thought you said you had changed, Tenten."_

School counselor, health and P.E. teacher Maito Gai, staring down at her with disappointment in his eyes. What did you expect? She wants to scream. Did you think change was so easy? Did you think you could help me? She wants to shriek with laughter, to fill the void with that inhuman sound of misery behind pleasure.

Did you think you knew me? Did you think anyone ever knew me?

But all she feels is hollowness where she wishes she felt anything at all.

Of course, she gets over it. The problem is…she gets over it by not thinking much about it at all. Tonight and other nights where her blood's sang before, she remembers again, like a wolf lost from its pack, what she really is. Her nature, as it's always been. Something lashing out, transforming from the hunted to the hunter. The renegade.

She can't raise her hands to the D.A. . She won't. That's not prudent, and she's grown up somewhat to know that he is helping her for a paycheck that has yet to be determined.

But you can't change, at least not drastically. You can change your outside behavior, but it will never really be you, never feel like yourself, just a doll being made to speak a few words. Tenten knows it.

And she had no intention of changing anymore, not for anyone.

* * *

**She kinda wrote herself a little Neji-esque there at the end….heh. So….I've decided who to pair her with, but not telling :P Who'd you rather it be, Neji or Lee? Just so I can figure out which is more popular amongst y'all.**

**Next time, I think I'm going to focus on Hinata, because after all, this is Naruhina and I've begun to neglect our poor darling. After all, she needs some love too…and Naruhina is my second-priority OTP (you all know my first). Be prepared for a scene with Naruto! **


	7. Chapter 7: Co-Conspirators

**As promised, some slight NaruHina, slight because of nessescary plot development. Also the brief mention of wedding scene J. Read and enjoy! **

Everything is decked in white but for roses like splatters of blood against the overcast sky. Umbrellas dot every corner, among the seats and over the arches themselves, cunningly camouflaged in the same glinting white and sprinkled with faux diamonds, preparing for the worst. A blanched linen strip along dew-dusted grass constitutes a walkway.

In a tent slightly off the field where the wedding will take place, Hinata adjusts a pearl earring into her left earlobe, wincing as she misplaces it a few times, gently puncturing the skin. She self-consciously smoothes down her dress, rippling the purple silk as she stands up.

"Lovely." Sakura glances Hinata's way while putting on a sheen of lipstick (as per mandated by Ino). "I think we're all going to look great walking down…"

"EXCEPT ME!" A loud voice breaking into a sob screeches through the tent, surprising Hinata so that she nearly drops the second earring into the folds of grass that serve as a floor.

"We talked about this." Sakura's patience is being slowly grated away by the moment, and her voice reflects this. "There was no way in hell you were going to fit in that big tulle monstrosity and those five-inch heels. At best, you were going to trip and have a miscarriage. So, let's think, do you want to look good today or keep the baby?"

"Both!"

"Not an option right now. And besides, I thought I came up with a decent alternative."

"Wedding dresses are meant to be long and prettyyyyyyyy! Not short and…normal-looking!"

"Keep talking, and I will be the one to say that you shouldn't get married because you're still too childish when the priest asks if anyone thinks you and Chouji shouldn't be wed."

In the heated argument, Hinata's phone vibrates in her bag, echoing silently against the leathery folds. She holds her breath until the vibrations die out before retrieving the phone.

Another missed call from Hyuga Hanabi.

Hinata had meant to send her a text, she really had. She had just…not been ready to reconcile with her past.

Suddenly the folds that served as a door opened and a pair of blue eyes peeped.

"Hello, Sakura-chan, Ino-chan, Hinata-chan!" Uzumaki Naruto jovially greeted them. His eyes fell on Hinata for a split second, then Sakura before remarking to them all. "You're all looking hot, so tell the bride to hurry it up, the ceremony's in a minute, kay?"

"We're having a bit of a Bridezilla issue." Sakura spoke up, moving her fingers through stray pink locks irritably. "She's not cooperating."

"Need any help? Anything for a sweet thing like you." Naruto smiled that same genuine smile of intimacy that made Hinata cringe inside as she looked at it being directed towards Sakura.

_Will anyone ever look at me like that?_

_Will…will he ever look at me like that?_

Sakura simply rolled her eyes at the smile, only responding with a cheeky remark "And let a pervy freak like you near an undressing bride? In your dreams, Naruto."

"Ewww!" He comically shrieked, flailing his arms around in a make-believe panic. "She's pregnant with Chouji's kid! That's gross, Sakura!"

"Exactly, which is completely your forte." Sakura giggled before playfully punching him on the shoulder. The two of them exchanged a brief giggle, staring at each other with eyes that seemed to exchange smiles and words of something more than friendship.

Hinata felt herself wince.

_Stupid, stupid girl. Thinking….thinking….that anyone could…_

"Hey Hinata." Sakura brushed a stray lock of pink hair behind an ear as she turned to the other girl. "Why don't you and Naruto get outside, hmm? I'll join you as soon as I force the Soon-To-Be Bloated Bride into her gown." She winked conspiratorially at a blushing Hinata.

"AAAARGH!"

"Hold on, Fattie, I'm coming!"

The folds of linen-white close to the sounds of a struggle, and Hinata looks over at Naruto, cheeks hot when she realizes…

_He's looking straight at me._

"So…" He smiled awkwardly, shoes tangling the grass at his feet.

"You-look-nice!" She blurted out, mangling the words together as she spoke, flushed face almost cherry-colored in the dim sunlight.

"Thanks!" He seemed not to care or not to notice her flushed features, laughing at himself. "I'm not a suit guy, but a wedding's the occasion, I guess. So…" He begins to segue into another topic…

But his next sentence is intercut by a sound of frantic swearing.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON OVER THERE! YOU WERE MEANT TO HAVE IT HERE BY 3 F #KIN' 30, GODDAMIT! YEAH, WELL, F#$K YOU TOO!"

The foul-mouthed being is another usher, but a younger one with chestnut-colored hair and a pudgy frame, almost like a miniature Chouji but for his facial features, which are a result of childish chubbiness instead of incessant gorging.

"Naruto, get on the phone with these motherf&^ckers, maybe you can make them see the point."

"What's going on, Konohamaru?"

"The most important part of the wedding is gonna be late!"

"The priest…" Hinata muttered to herself, sure of the answer to the riddle…

"No, dammit, the CAKE!" Konohamaru seemed almost beside himself with worry. "That's the one reason we're all here!"

"Well…the bride is my boss…"Hinata mumbled in reply. A moment of silence seemed to reign where she thought she had spoken out of turn before Naruto burst into laughter.

"What?"

"Sorry, it's just…you're so candid about everything." He smiled before turning to Konohamaru. "So who cares if the cake is late?"

"The cake being late can make or break the goddamn wedding." Konohamaru stretched his hands in front of him to paint a picture. "We've been here for a couple hours already. The groom is sweating buckets inside a tux he'll never wear again and wishes he could strip out of. The bride is screaming at anything that makes a slight motion while her stomach is rumbling for two. And it looks like it will rain. The only thing that's keeping them both from running away from this horrible day? Their everlasting love….and the promise of baked goods."

Hinata and Naruto stared, varying expressions vying for spots on their faces. Hinata eventually settled on a look of strangeness, eyebrows arched close together. Naruto simply looked jovial, but that was nothing new.

"Well, send someone to pick it up then."

"The bakery's at least two hours away! The bride and groom will finish each other off at the altar before that!"

"Not if we make record time!" Naruto's voice took on a determined tone as he grabbed Hinata's hand and pulled her forward forcefully. "C'mon, time to save a wedding!"

"Aaaah…" She whimpered a little at the sudden force of the pull, but still, flushing with redness, let herself be dragged to his ugly faded orange pickup truck.

* * *

"Naruto-kun…could you…slow down?" She whispers, feeling her breakfast and the noxious smell of fuel shake her body back and forth to the speedy pace of the truck. It's plowed down five avenues, nearly gotten into two collisions, and he still hasn't stopped yet…

She can feel herself start to pant, over and over, faster and faster, it's coming up…

And he's stopped, puts his arms around her and, staring into her with those cerulean eyes, asks if she is okay before deciding he already knows. Arm around her, he gently pivots her out of the truck.

"You alright?" He asks again, thumping her slightly on the back as she practically crawls through the doorway of a gas station and heaves the remainder of what was in her stomach into a squalid bathroom stall, green and brown and slightly white at the edges, smelling of upchucked food and acid. She heaves again and again until emptiness is relief, and wiping her lips, she shakily stands.

"I'm okay now…." She totters a little on the step and he half-catches her, half-leds her.

"I don't think we can really take that chance, Hinata-chan." He smiled. "But for what it's worth, you're doing great. Here, I got the cake while you were busy." He produces a large paper box, elaborately decorated with a pattern of two flying swans.

"You go back to the wedding…I'll just get a cab when…I feel up to it." Hinata smiled weakly, eyes dull. "You just tell them I'll be late, ok?"

And he's looking into her eyes again, those piercing eyes like pieces of a summer sky, straight at her. For the first time, she can feel that he might really be seeing her.

"It's not like I'd leave a pretty girl all on her own in a shady part of town like this." He smiles gently. "And anyhow, it's better to be late with someone else, so it's fashionable."

* * *

They walk and they talk, sitting for brief intervals. It can't be more than fifteen minutes, but it seems to Hinata like paradise has opened up on her at last as he smiles and laughs at her little anecdotes and she does likewise, even as she still feels like she's going to flare up into flames as he looks at her. He seems carefree, unbothered, and friendly, asking the right questions and showing interest.

"And so, that was when my little sister decided she wanted to get up closer to feed the ducklings…"

"She falls into the pond, doesn't she?"

"St-stop ruining the story!"

"I haven't ruined it, I'm just a good guesser!"

"N-Naruto-kun…"

"Admit it!"

"N-never!" She flushes harder but she keeps up the banter.

"Sheesh, girls. There's never going to be a man alive who can figure you out."

* * *

They're about to head off, strapped into their seats, when he offers her a strawberry.

"Go on, take it."

"T-this is from the cake, isn't it?" She picks up the glinting red fruit, still dusted with white frosting and holds it between her fingertips, rubbing the smooth texture. "W-we shouldn't…it's Ino's and Chouji's…"

"They won't notice." His eyes are striking now, that same intoxicating cerulean, but she still resists.

"It's not right…"

"I'll vouch for you."

And then those eyes nearly blow her away with their intensity, with the genuine care behind them that stops her words and places the berry between her teeth. She sucks on icing before eventually biting down on the forbidden fruit, freshness and spring coming alive in her mouth again.

But it's only when she looks at him, at his smile, that they, for an instant, in defacing the wedding cake by freeing it of strawberries, have become co-conspirators in a silent plot.

And she doesn't mind. Not at all.

Not ever.

**I know it's not incredibly lovey-dovey, but plot development is a necessity. R and R as always if you have the time, I'd like to know that people still read this, just as a peruser of the internet and abandoner of projects. I've kept this up because people seem to like it, and I intend to for as long as people read it. Have a nice day!**


End file.
